Engels

Telugu

Engels

1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Back Ground
HPCL is a Government of India Enterprise with a Navratna Status, and a Forbes 2000 and Global Fortune 500 company. It had originally been incorporated as a company under the Indian Companies Act 1913. It is listed on the Bombay Stock exchange (BSE) and National Stock Exchange (NSE), India.
HPCL continually invests in innovative technologies to enhance the effectiveness of employees and bring qualitative changes in service. Business Process Re-Engineering exercise, creation of Strategic Business Units, ERP implementation, Organizational Transformation, Balanced Score Card, Competency Mapping, benchmarking of refineries and terminals for product specifications, ISO certification of Refineries and Supply Chain Management are some of the initiatives that broke new grounds.
M/s. HPCL has appointed SV Enviro Labs & Consultants, Visakhapatnam for preparation of EIA/RA Reports for proposed project in order to seek Environmental Clearance. SV Enviro Labs & Consultants is a QCI-NABET accredited EIA consultancy organization for “Isolated storage & handling of Hazardous Chemicals.
1.2 Structure of EIA Report
The EIA report has been prepared and aligned as per “Generic Structure of EIA/EMP/RA Report” required by the MoEF, Govt. of India as per the general condition stipulated in the EIA notification. The salient features of the report have been projected by identifying the environmental and ecological stressors. The impact assessment has been presented by making compliance with the threshold limit of the environmental and ecological stressors and other norms available through government or non-government agencies.
The Environmental Impact Assessment Documentation has been prepared in terms of EIA notification of the MoEF dated 14-9-2006, as amended on 1st Dec 2009, 4th April 2011 for seeking Environmental Clearance for M/s Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited, Construction of new LPG Bottling Plant situated at Sy. No: 744/1/2,744/1/4,744/1/3,744/14 & 744, Kamalapur (V&M), Karimnagar District, Telangana falling under category “B”.
1.3 Project Proposal
HPCL, Karimnagar proposes to establish new LPG plant for bottling and storage facilities at Sy. No: 744/1/2,744/1/4,744/1/3,744/14 & 744, Kamalapur (V&M), Karimnagar District, Telangana District and storage capacity is 3 x 300 MT Mounded Storage Vessels, Bottling capacity is 60,000 MTPA. The LPG bottling plant will be operated in two shifts /day and 300 days/year to achieve the targeted production by making use of facilities listed
1.4 Project Location
The proposed LPG Bottling plant of HPCL is located at 744/1/2,744/1/4,744/1/3,744/14 & 744, Kamalapur (V&M), Karimnagar District, Telangana District. The bottling plant is spread over an area of 26.69 acres of land. Geographically, the plant is at latitude 18°11'24.08"N; longitude 79°32'13.47"E; at an altitude of about 4m above mean sea level. Uppal Railway Station around 5.0 KMs from the proposed LPG Bottling Plant.
2.0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Executive Summary covers the following chapters in brief:
1. Project Description
2. Description of Environment & Identification of Impacts and Mitigation Measures
3. Significance &Project Benefits
4. Environmental Management Plan
2.1 Project Description
Goal and Objectives:
The Goal of the project is to attain rural penetration of HPCL bottled LPG Cylinders in the State of Telangana in a Safe & Environmental friendly way, and the objectives to attain this goal would be construction & operation of 3x300 MT Mounded Storage Vessels, Bottling Capacity of 60,000MTPA LPG Cylinders by following all applicable Safety & Environmental Regulations prevailing in the Region.
Proposed Facilities
The salient features of the project proposed to construct 3x300 MT Mounded Storage Vessels, Bottling Capacity of 60,000MTPA LPG Cylinders in an area of 26.69 Acres is as follows:
Table: Proposed Infrastructure at M/s LPG Bottling Plant - Karimnagar
Sr.No. DESCRIPTION SIZE(M x M)
1 Filled Cylinder Storage shed 40 m x 25m
2 Bulk T/T Unloading Gantry (6 bays + 2 future) 36 m x 16m
3 Empty cylinder cum filling shed 85m x 40m
4 Valve Changing shed 25 m x 20m
5 Pressure Testing shed 40 m x 25m
6A Weigh bridge cabin 4m x 42
6B Weigh bridge 12 m x 3m
7 LPG mound (3 x 300MT) 50m x 35m
8A Gate cabin 3m x 3m
8B Gate cabin 6m x 4m
9 Office Building with control room 30m x 12m
10 Amenity Block 30 m x 10m
11 DG Shed 12 m x 10m
12 Fire water tank (2 Nos) – 3500M3 each Ǿ18m x 14m
13 Air comp. House 15 m x 10m
14 MCC Room 22m x 10m
15 Ware House 20 m x 10m
16 Fire water pump house 40 m x 10m
17 Invoice room 15m x 5m
18 Service water tank with pump shed Ǿ2.4m x 3.5m
19 LPG Pump & Compressor House 25m x 8m
20 Cylinder unloading platform 25m x 10m
21 Cylinder loading platform 25m x 10m
22A Connecting platform 3m x 32m
22B Connecting platform 3m x 32m
22C Connecting platform 3 m x 17m
22D Connecting platform 3m x 16m
23 Drivers Amenity 20m x 5m
24 Visitors parking and two wheeler parking 20m x 5m
25 Employee car parking 20m x 5m
26 Flood light tower 8 Nos
27 Watch tower 8 Nos
28 T/T Parking area -
29 - 10m x 10m
30 Maintenance Room 10m x 5m
31 Diesel unloading tank area (16 KL UG) 13m x 16m
32 Effluent Treatment Plant 18m x 7m
33 HT Yard (4 Pole) 3m x 3m
34 Cylinder counting platform 7m x 1.2m
 Fire Fighting System is consisting of Automatic sprinkler system provided in all LPG handling areas/sheds covered with network of hydrants & monitors as per requirement of OISD-144
 Hydrant network as above shall further be extended for Storage vessels area.
 Ring Main Hydrants are provided with Fire Hydrants & Monitors at strategic locations as per OISD-144
2.2 Description of Environment & Identification of Anticipated Impacts
Description of baseline environmental status and the impact on the existing environment after construction and operation of the proposed project have been detailed with respect to the following components of the environment. The existing status of important environmental components and impact of project activities on them is summarized below.
Land Environment:
The proposed Mounded bullets shall be installed in an area of 26.69Acres. Hence there is no change in land use pattern.
The following prominent land use classes have been observed in the study area (10km radius):
S.No LU/LC class Area in hectare
1 Rivers & Streams 8640.8
2 Industrial 1440.9
3 Residential 8882.6
4 Water Body 142.5
5 Cultivation 11336.4
6 Plantation 242.2
7 Open Scrub 616.3
8 Others 98.3
Total 34100
There is no solid and hazardous waste generation due to the proposed project and consequently any adverse impact on land is not envisaged. Thus, there will be no change in the soil characteristics, land use pattern and landscape due to the construction & operation of the proposed facilities.
To characterize the nature of soil, samples from four locations in different directions within the study area were collected and characterized.
The pH of the soil is an important property; vegetation cannot grow in low and high pH value soils. The normal range of pH in the soils is 6.0 to 8.5. These soils are called as normal to saline soils. Most of the essential nutrients like N, P, K, Cl and SO4 are available for plants at the neutral pH except for Fe, Mn and Al (not mentioned in the table) which are available at low pH range. The soils having pH below 7 are considered to be acidic from the practical standpoint, those with pH less than 5.5 and which respond to liming may be considered to qualify to be designated as acid soils. On the basis of pH measurements, the degree of soil acidity may be indicated. The pH values in the study area are varying from 6.69 to 7.84 indicating that the soils are neutral in nature.
Air Environment:
Existing Ambient Air Quality
The baseline ambient air quality status in the study area is characterized using the following sources of data:
 Ambient air quality monitoring at eight sampling locations within the study area.
 Meteorological data collected during the study period
To evaluate the baseline ambient air quality status, one season data was generated at eight
locations in and around the bottling plant including residential & rural area for a period of three months from January’ 2016 to March’ 2016. During the monitoring period the concentration of air pollutants namely PM10, PM2.5, SO2, NOx, VOCs, Methane & Non-methane Hydrocarbon in ambient were measured.
The highlights of the results are as below:
Summary of Analysis of Ambient Air Quality in the Study Area
Parameter PM10(µg/m3) PM2.5(µg/m3) SO2(µg/m3) NOx(µg/m3)
Monitoring
Station No.of samples Maximum Minimum Mean 98th percentile No.of samples Maximum Minimum Mean 98th percentile No.of samples Maximum Minimum Mean 98th percentile No.of samples Maximum Minimum Mean 98th percentile
A1 26 78.4 59.2 67.1 75.4 26 39.8 30.1 34.1 38.3 26 12.0 9.1 10.3 11.6 26 21.1 16.0 18.1 20.3
A2 26 66.4 54.2 60.4 66.1 26 29.3 23.9 26.6 29.1 26 10.2 8.3 9.3 10.1 26 16.3 13.3 14.8 16.2
A3 26 77.1 59.4 67.4 75.1 26 36.9 28.4 32.2 35.9 26 11.9 9.1 10.4 11.6 26 20.6 15.9 18.0 20.1
A4 26 67.1 55.2 60.2 66.7 26 32.6 26.8 29.2 32.4 26 10.3 8.5 9.3 10.3 26 14.8 12.2 13.3 14.7
A5 26 77.1 51.8 65.4 74.9 26 37.2 25.0 31.6 36.2 26 11.9 8.0 10.1 11.5 26 20.5 13.7 17.4 19.9
A6 26 67.5 47.2 58.3 67.4 26 32.6 22.8 28.2 32.6 26 10.4 7.3 9.0 10.4 26 18.1 12.7 15.6 18.1
A7 26 72.3 57.3 63.2 72.2 26 35.6 28.2 31.1 35.6 26 11.1 8.8 9.7 11.1 26 19.6 15.5 17.1 19.6
A8 26 76.2 51.5 61.7 73.2 26 35.8 24.2 29.0 34.3 26 11.7 7.9 9.5 11.3 26 20.7 14.0 16.8 19.9
NAAQS 100(µg/m3) 60(µg/m3) 80(µg/m3) 80(µg/m3)
Note: 1. Carbon Monoxide values over entire study area ranged between 0.62 mg/m3 to 0.91 mg/m3 with a mean of 0.76 mg/m3
2. Hydrocarbons as Methane (mg/m3) and Non Methane Hydrocarbons (mg/m3) were monitored & analyzed at all locations and was found having an overall mean of 1.38ppm and 0.49 ppm respectively.
From the monitoring results, it may be concluded that the concentration of the air pollutants, as stated above, are well within the limits specified under NAAQS for industrial, rural and residential areas.
Source of Air Pollution:
Operation of the bottling plant involves only storage and handling of LPG which does not lead to process specific emission of air pollutants into atmosphere. The entire operation of receipt, storage and filling in cylinders is carried out under closed circuit and leak proof system so as to restrict any emission of hydrocarbon vapours into the atmosphere.
However, intermittent sources of air pollutants are limited to DG Sets and fire Water pumps which are operated only in case of power failure during working hours and during mock fire drills only (once in a month) respectively. Hence, installation of proposed Mounded Bullets shall not impart any adverse impact on existing air environment.
Noise Environment
Noise monitoring was conducted at 08 locations within the study area, representing industrial, rural and residential areas. It is found that Maximum Lday and Lnight was observed to be 67.3 at N2 and Maximum and Lnight was 55.0 dB(A) at N3. The minimum Lday was found to be 48.9 dB(A) was measured at N5 and minimum Lnight was 41.4 observed at N7. All the results observed where within the specified CPCB Standards. The variation in the noise level may be attributed to the movement of vehicles on the surrounding local roads adjacent to the plant. A little increase in the noise level during construction phase has been envisaged.
The duration of construction activities shall be restricted 8 to 12 hours only with maximum incremental noise level equivalent to 10 dB(A) which will correspond to 3 to 4 dB(A) during day and night. There will be no additional noise generation during operation phase. Hence, impact on the noise quality shall be practically insignificant due to proposed project activities.
Water Environment:
To evaluate the existing water quality, 08nos of ground water and 08nos of surface water samples were collected from different locations around the bottling plant and characterized for relevant parameters.
Surface water quality results are summarized below:
• pH of the surface water collected was neutral with pH ranging from 6.85 – 7.36
• TDS was found to be 398 - 1265 mg/l. The tolerance limit of 1,500 mg/l as per IS:2296
• Total hardness was found to be 258 – 558 mg/l.
• Presence of Nitrate was recorded as 3.1 – 7.9 mg/l.
• DO was observed as 5.9 – 6.2 mg/l .
• Total coliform in water was 235 - 2045 MPN/100ml. The likely source of bacteriological contamination was due to the proximity to residential area
• All the heavy metals were found to be within below detectable limits.
Summary of Groundwater quality:
• The pH limit fixed for drinking water samples as per IS:10500 is 6.5 to 8.5 beyond this range the water will affect the mucus membrane and or water supply system. During the study period, the pH of the groundwater was found varying between 6.91 and 7.56. The pH values for all the samples collected in the study area during study period were found to be within the desirable limits.
• The permissible limit for total dissolved solids as per IS:10500 is 2000 milligrams per litre (mg/l), beyond this palatability decreases and may cause gastro-intestinal irritation. In groundwater samples collected from the study area, the total dissolved solids (TDS) were found to be varying between 425 mg/l and 814 mg/l. The TDS of all the samples were below the desirable limit.
• The permissible limit for Chloride is 1000 mg/l as per IS:10500 beyond this limit taste, corrosion and palatability are affected. The Chloride levels in the groundwater samples collected in the study area were ranging from 116 - 238 mg/l.
• The permissible limit as per IS:10500 for hardness is 600 mg/l beyond this limit encrustation in water supply structure and adverse effects on domestic use will be observed. In the groundwater samples collected from the study area, the hardness was found to be varying from 202 mg/l to 496 mg/l.
• Fluoride is the other important parameter, which has the permissible limit of 1.5 mg/l. However, the optimum content of fluoride in the drinking water is 0.6 to 1.5 mg/l. If the fluoride content is less than 0.6 mg/l it causes dental caries. If it is above 1.5 mg/l it causes staining of tooth enamel, higher concentration in range of 3-10 mg/l causes fluorosis. In the groundwater samples of study area the fluoride values were found to be within a range of 0.39 mg/l to 0.74 mg/l.
All the heavy metals in all samples were found to be below the permissible limits. The characteristics of the samples collected within the study area were found well within the permissible limits of Drinking water standards(IS 10500).
Water Consumption:
The project proposal is only for installation of 3 x 300MT Mounded storage vessels. The water consumption due to the proposed project shall be 4.0 KLD for domestic purpose and 6.0 KLD for Process.
Waste water Generation:
The quantity of waste water generation under normal operation of the plant is 5.2 KLD. sanitary waste water is being disposed off through septic tanks to soak pits and rest of the non-sanitary waste water (due to mock drill, once in a month) will be treated and then discharge into the drains.
Biological Environment:
The proposed facilities shall be installed in the vacant land available within the premises of bottling plant. There is no point and non-point source of emission or discharge of pollutants hence, no adverse impact on the biological environment is envisaged due to the proposed project activities and operation. Moreover, a considerable area of the plant has already been brought under green belt which provides food and habitat for birds and smaller mammalian species. Thus, significant positive impact on fauna is foreseen.
Socio-Economic Environment:
The development due to proposed project will have temporary impacts on local socio-economic condition of the people residing in the area. The construction of Mounded Bullets would provide temporary employment, which may consist of locals too. This would improve the socio-economic condition of the local population. The operation of the proposed project would result in positive impacts such as industrial and economic development and generation of indirect employment opportunity
2.3 Analysis of Alternative (Technology & Site)
HPCL has mastered the art and technology for installation of Mounded storage Vessels. The LPG department of marketing division of HPCL has earned a good credential of Mounded storage vessels. The technology adopted by HPCL for installation of Mounded storage vessel for storage of LPG is a fail-safe technology and as such no alternative technology was considered for providing such facilities. Since, the proposed bullets will be within available site hence, alternate site selection is not relevant.
2.4 Environmental Monitoring Programme
A monitoring schedule with respect to Ambient Air Quality, waste water quality, Noise Quality prepared in consultation with Telangana Pollution Control Board (TPCB), shall be maintained.
2.5 Additional Studies
No additional study is required for the proposed project. Salient features of the studies are as under:
Impact on local infrastructure such as road network etc
Transport requirements will arise during the construction phase due to the movement of both the personnel and materials. The proposed site is well connected to the roads.
Compensation package for the people affected by the proposed project:
The installation of 03 nos. of Mounded Storage Vessels for storage of bulk LPG shall be carried out at Haldia.
The nearest village to the proposed site is Pangidipalli Village. The major occupations of population are industrial labor activities. The proposed facility does not envisage any displacement of population and no resettlement of population.
Hence, the proposed project does not involve any issue with respect to Resettlement & rehabilitation and does not come under purview of RR Policy.
Proposed plan to handle the socio-economic influence on local community:
For installation of 03nos of mounded storage vessels, about 200 construction workers would be required. For unskilled jobs, it would be ensured that only local workers are engaged for carrying out construction jobs. This would impart positive impact on the socio-economic condition of the local area. For skilled jobs, only marginal number of workers is likely to be engaged. In view of the size of population residing within 5 km radius, no additional study is required to assess the impact of marginal number of workers coming from outside area.
2.6 Risk Analysis
Risk Assessment for the proposed project has also been carried out and necessary safeguard measures have been discussed in chapter -7. The proposal is for installation of 3 x 300 MT Mounded Storage Vessels which is considered to be intrinsically safe. The installation of the Mounded storage vessels will not enhance the risk profile of the plant.
2.7 Significance & Project Benefits of the Project
This project proposed to construct 3x300 MT Mounded Storage Vessels, Bottling Capacity of 60 TMTPA LPG Cylinders in an area of 26.69Acres.
HPCL has only one LPG Plant in State of Telangana at Cherlapally in an industrial area located in Telangana – bottling capacity of 50000 cylinders per day.
HPCL is meeting the demand through sharing filling capacity from other LPG Bottling plants/private bottlers. As per vision of Govt. of India LPG penetration has to be increased to 75% by addition of 5.5 crore new connections.
HPCL shall release 1.37 crore LPG connections. It has approximately 33% of LPG connections and to meet the increasing demand HPCL proposes to construct new LPG bottling plant at 744/1/2, 744/1/4, 744/1/3, 744/14 & 744, Kamalapur (V & M), Karimanagar District, Telangana
It is n

Telugu

Engels

Nature, in the broadest sense, is the natural, physical, or material world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large part of science. Although humans are part of nature, human activity is often understood as a separate category from other natural phenomena.
The word nature is derived from the Latin word natura, or "essential qualities, innate disposition", and in ancient times, literally meant "birth".[1] Natura is a Latin translation of the Greek word physis (φύσις), which originally related to the intrinsic characteristics that plants, animals, and other features of the world develop of their own accord.[2][3] The concept of nature as a whole, the physical universe, is one of several expansions of the original notion; it began with certain core applications of the word φύσις by pre-Socratic philosophers, and has steadily gained currency ever since. This usage continued during the advent of modern scientific method in the last several centuries.[4][5]
Within the various uses of the word today, "nature" often refers to geology and wildlife. Nature can refer to the general realm of living plants and animals, and in some cases to the processes associated with inanimate objects – the way that particular types of things exist and change of their own accord, such as the weather and geology of the Earth. It is often taken to mean the "natural environment" or wilderness–wild animals, rocks, forest, and in general those things that have not been substantially altered by human intervention, or which persist despite human intervention. For example, manufactured objects and human interaction generally are not considered part of nature, unless qualified as, for example, "human nature" or "the whole of nature". This more traditional concept of natural things which can still be found today implies a distinction between the natural and the artificial, with the artificial being understood as that which has been brought into being by a human consciousness or a human mind. Depending on the particular context, the term "natural" might also be distinguished from the unnatural or the supernatural.
Contents
1 Earth
1.1 Geology
1.1.1 Geological evolution
1.2 Historical perspective
2 Atmosphere, climate, and weather
3 Water on Earth
3.1 Oceans
3.2 Lakes
3.2.1 Ponds
3.3 Rivers
3.4 Streams
4 Ecosystems
4.1 Wilderness
5 Life
5.1 Evolution
5.2 Microbes
5.3 Plants and Animals
6 Human interrelationship
6.1 Aesthetics and beauty
6.2 Value of Nature
7 Matter and energy
8 Beyond Earth
9 See also
10 Notes and references
11 External links
Earth
Main articles: Earth and Earth science
View of the Earth, taken in 1972 by the Apollo 17 astronaut crew. This image is the only photograph of its kind to date, showing a fully sunlit hemisphere of the Earth.
Earth (or, "the earth") is the only planet known to support life, and its natural features are the subject of many fields of scientific research. Within the solar system, it is third closest to the sun; it is the largest terrestrial planet and the fifth largest overall. Its most prominent climatic features are its two large polar regions, two relatively narrow temperate zones, and a wide equatorial tropical to subtropical region.[6] Precipitation varies widely with location, from several metres of water per year to less than a millimetre. 71 percent of the Earth's surface is covered by salt-water oceans. The remainder consists of continents and islands, with most of the inhabited land in the Northern Hemisphere.
Earth has evolved through geological and biological processes that have left traces of the original conditions. The outer surface is divided into several gradually migrating tectonic plates. The interior remains active, with a thick layer of plastic mantle and an iron-filled core that generates a magnetic field. This iron core is composed of a solid inner phase, and a fluid outer phase. It is the rotation of the outer, fluid iron core that generates an electrical current through dynamo action, which in turn generates a strong magnetic field.
The atmospheric conditions have been significantly altered from the original conditions by the presence of life-forms,[7] which create an ecological balance that stabilizes the surface conditions. Despite the wide regional variations in climate by latitude and other geographic factors, the long-term average global climate is quite stable during interglacial periods,[8] and variations of a degree or two of average global temperature have historically had major effects on the ecological balance, and on the actual geography of the Earth.[9][10]
Geology
Main article: Geology
Three types of geological plate tectonic boundaries.
Geology is the science and study of the solid and liquid matter that constitutes the Earth. The field of geology encompasses the study of the composition, structure, physical properties, dynamics, and history of Earth materials, and the processes by which they are formed, moved, and changed. The field is a major academic discipline, and is also important for mineral and hydrocarbon extraction, knowledge about and mitigation of natural hazards, some Geotechnical engineering fields, and understanding past climates and environments.
Geological evolution
The geology of an area evolves through time as rock units are deposited and inserted and deformational processes change their shapes and locations.
Rock units are first emplaced either by deposition onto the surface or intrude into the overlying rock. Deposition can occur when sediments settle onto the surface of the Earth and later lithify into sedimentary rock, or when as volcanic material such as volcanic ash or lava flows, blanket the surface. Igneous intrusions such as batholiths, laccoliths, dikes, and sills, push upwards into the overlying rock, and crystallize as they intrude.
After the initial sequence of rocks has been deposited, the rock units can be deformed and/or metamorphosed. Deformation typically occurs as a result of horizontal shortening, horizontal extension, or side-to-side (strike-slip) motion. These structural regimes broadly relate to convergent boundaries, divergent boundaries, and transform boundaries, respectively, between tectonic plates.
Historical perspective
Main articles: History of the Earth and Evolution
Plankton inhabit oceans, seas and lakes, and have existed in various forms for at least 2 billion years.[11]
An animation showing the movement of the continents from the separation of Pangaea until the present day.
Earth is estimated to have formed 4.54 billion years ago from the solar nebula, along with the Sun and other planets.[12] The moon formed roughly 20 million years later. Initially molten, the outer layer of the Earth cooled, resulting in the solid crust. Outgassing and volcanic activity produced the primordial atmosphere. Condensing water vapor, most or all of which came from ice delivered by comets, produced the oceans and other water sources.[13] The highly energetic chemistry is believed to have produced a self-replicating molecule around 4 billion years ago.[14]
Continents formed, then broke up and reformed as the surface of Earth reshaped over hundreds of millions of years, occasionally combining to make a supercontinent. Roughly 750 million years ago, the earliest known supercontinent Rodinia, began to break apart. The continents later recombined to form Pannotia which broke apart about 540 million years ago, then finally Pangaea, which broke apart about 180 million years ago.[15]
During the Neoproterozoic era covered much of the Earth in glaciers and ice sheets. This hypothesis has been termed the "Snowball Earth", and it is of particular interest as it precedes the Cambrian explosion in which multicellular life forms began to proliferate about 530–540 million years ago.[16]
Since the Cambrian explosion there have been five distinctly identifiable mass extinctions.[17] The last mass extinction occurred some 66 million years ago, when a meteorite collision probably triggered the extinction of the non-avian dinosaurs and other large reptiles, but spared small animals such as mammals. Over the past 66 million years, mammalian life diversified.[18]
Several million years ago, a species of small African ape gained the ability to stand upright.[11] The subsequent advent of human life, and the development of agriculture and further civilization allowed humans to affect the Earth more rapidly than any previous life form, affecting both the nature and quantity of other organisms as well as global climate. By comparison, the Great Oxygenation Event, produced by the proliferation of algae during the Siderian period, required about 300 million years to culminate.
The present era is classified as part of a mass extinction event, the Holocene extinction event, the fastest ever to have occurred.[19][20] Some, such as E. O. Wilson of Harvard University, predict that human destruction of the biosphere could cause the extinction of one-half of all species in the next 100 years.[21] The extent of the current extinction event is still being researched, debated and calculated by biologists.[22]
Atmosphere, climate, and weather
Lightning
Blue light is scattered more than other wavelengths by the gases in the atmosphere, giving the Earth a blue halo when seen from space
A tornado in central Oklahoma
Main articles: Atmosphere of Earth, Climate and Weather
The Earth's atmosphere is a key factor in sustaining the ecosystem. The thin layer of gases that envelops the Earth is held in place by gravity. Air is mostly nitrogen, oxygen, water vapor, with much smaller amounts of carbon dioxide, argon, etc. The atmospheric pressure declines steadily with altitude. The ozone layer plays an important role in depleting the amount of ultraviolet (UV) radiation that reaches the surface. As DNA is readily damaged by UV light, this serves to protect life at the surface. The atmosphere also retains heat during the night, thereby reducing the daily temperature extremes.
Terrestrial weather occurs almost exclusively in the lower part of the atmosphere, and serves as a convective system for redistributing heat. Ocean currents are another important factor in determining climate, particularly the major underwater thermohaline circulation which distributes heat energy from the equatorial oceans to the polar regions. These currents help to moderate the differences in temperature between winter and summer in the temperate zones. Also, without the redistributions of heat energy by the ocean currents and atmosphere, the tropics would be much hotter, and the polar regions much colder.
Weather can have both beneficial and harmful effects. Extremes in weather, such as tornadoes or hurricanes and cyclones, can expend large amounts of energy along their paths, and produce devastation. Surface vegetation has evolved a dependence on the seasonal variation of the weather, and sudden changes lasting only a few years can have a dramatic effect, both on the vegetation and on the animals which depend on its growth for their food.
Climate is a measure of the long-term trends in the weather. Various factors are known to influence the climate, including ocean currents, surface albedo, greenhouse gases, variations in the solar luminosity, and changes to the Earth's orbit. Based on historical records, the Earth is known to have undergone drastic climate changes in the past, including ice ages.
The climate of a region depends on a number of factors, especially latitude. A latitudinal band of the surface with similar climatic attributes forms a climate region. There are a number of such regions, ranging from the tropical climate at the equator to the polar climate in the northern and southern extremes. Weather is also influenced by the seasons, which result from the Earth's axis being tilted relative to its orbital plane. Thus, at any given time during the summer or winter, one part of the Earth is more directly exposed to the rays of the sun. This exposure alternates as the Earth revolves in its orbit. At any given time, regardless of season, the northern and southern hemispheres experience opposite seasons.
Weather is a chaotic system that is readily modified by small changes to the environment, so accurate weather forecasting is limited to only a few days.[citation needed] Overall, two things are happening worldwide: (1) temperature is increasing on the average; and (2) regional climates have been undergoing noticeable changes.[23]
Water on Earth
The Iguazu Falls on the border between Brazil and Argentina
Main article: Water
Water is a chemical substance that is composed of hydrogen and oxygen and is vital for all known forms of life.[24] In typical usage, water refers only to its liquid form or state, but the substance also has a solid state, ice, and a gaseous state, water vapor or steam. Water covers 71% of the Earth's surface.[25] On Earth, it is found mostly in oceans and other large water bodies, with 1.6% of water below ground in aquifers and 0.001% in the air as vapor, clouds, and precipitation.[26][27] Oceans hold 97% of surface water, glaciers and polar ice caps 2.4%, and other land surface water such as rivers, lakes and ponds 0.6%. Additionally, a minute amount of the Earth's water is contained within biological bodies and manufactured products.
Oceans
A view of the Atlantic Ocean from Leblon, Rio de Janeiro.
View of the Earth where all five oceans visible
Earth's oceans
Arctic
Pacific
Atlantic
Indian
Southern
World Ocean
v
t
e
Main article: Ocean
An ocean is a major body of saline water, and a principal component of the hydrosphere. Approximately 71% of the Earth's surface (an area of some 361 million square kilometers) is covered by ocean, a continuous body of water that is customarily divided into several principal oceans and smaller seas. More than half of this area is over 3,000 meters (9,800 feet) deep. Average oceanic salinity is around 35 parts per thousand (ppt) (3.5%), and nearly all seawater has a salinity in the range of 30 to 38 ppt. Though generally recognized as several 'separate' oceans, these waters comprise one global, interconnected body of salt water often referred to as the World Ocean or global ocean.[28][29] This concept of a global ocean as a continuous body of water with relatively free interchange among its parts is of fundamental importance to oceanography.[30]
The major oceanic divisions are defined in part by the continents, various archipelagos, and other criteria: these divisions are (in descending order of size) the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean, the Southern Ocean and the Arctic Ocean. Smaller regions of the oceans are called seas, gulfs, bays and other names. There are also salt lakes, which are smaller bodies of landlocked saltwater that are not interconnected with the World Ocean. Two notable examples of salt lakes are the Aral Sea and the Great Salt Lake.
Lakes
Lake Mapourika, New Zealand
Main article: Lake
A lake (from Latin lacus) is a terrain feature (or physical feature), a body of liquid on the surface of a world that is localized to the bottom of basin (another type of landform or terrain feature; that is, it is not global) and moves slowly if it moves at all. On Earth, a body of water is considered a lake when it is inland, not part of the ocean, is larger and deeper than a pond, and is fed by a river.[31][32] The only world other than Earth known to harbor lakes is Titan, Saturn's largest moon, which has lakes of ethane, most likely mixed with methane. It is not known if Titan's lakes are fed by rivers, though Titan's surface is carved by numerous river beds. Natural lakes on Earth are generally found in mountainous areas, rift zones, and areas with ongoing or recent glaciation. Other lakes are found in endorheic basins or along the courses of mature rivers. In some parts of the world, there are many lakes because of chaotic drainage patterns left over from the last Ice Age. All lakes are temporary over geologic time scales, as they will slowly fill in with sediments or spill out of the basin containing them.
Ponds
The Westborough Reservoir (Mill Pond) in Westborough, Massachusetts.
Main article: Pond
A pond is a body of standing water, either natural or man-made, that is usually smaller than a lake. A wide variety of man-made bodies of water are classified as ponds, including water gardens designed for aesthetic ornamentation, fish ponds designed for commercial fish breeding, and solar ponds designed to store thermal energy. Ponds and lakes are distinguished from streams via current speed. While currents in streams are easily observed, ponds and lakes possess thermally driven microcurrents and moderate wind driven currents. These features distinguish a pond from many other aquatic terrain features, such as stream pools and tide pools.
Rivers
The Nile river in Cairo, Egypt's capital city
Main article: River
A river is a natural watercourse,[33] usually freshwater, flowing toward an ocean, a lake, a sea or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water. Small rivers may also be called by several other names, including stream, creek, brook, rivulet, and rill; there is no general rule that defines what can be called a river. Many names for small rivers are specific to geographic location; one example is Burn in Scotland and North-east England. Sometimes a river is said to be larger than a creek,[34] but this is not always the case, due to vagueness in the language.[35] A river is part of the hydrological cycle. Water within a river is generally collected from precipitation through surface runoff, groundwater recharge, springs, and the release of stored water in natural ice and snowpacks (i.e., from glaciers).
Streams
A rocky stream in Hawaii
Main article: Stream
A stream is a flowing body of water with a current, confined within a bed and stream banks. In the United States a stream is classified as a watercourse less than 60 feet (18 metres) wide. Streams are important as conduits in the water cycle, instruments in groundwater recharge, and they serve as corridors for fish and wildlife migration. The biological habitat in the immediate vicinity of a stream is called a riparian zone. Given the status of the ongoing Holocene extinction, streams play an important corridor role in connecting fragmented habitats and thus in conserving biodiversity. The study of streams and waterways in general involves many branches of inter-disciplinary natural science and engineering, including hydrology, fluvial geomorphology, aquatic ecology, fish biology, riparian ecology and others.
Ecosystems
Loch Lomond in Scotland forms a relatively isolated ecosystem. The fish community of this lake has remained unchanged over a very long period of time.[36]
Lush green Aravalli Mountain Range in the Desert country-Rajasthan, India. A wonder how such greenery can exist in hot Rajasthan, a place well known for its Thar Desert
An aerial view of a human ecosystem. Pictured is the city of Chicago
Main articles: Ecology and Ecosystem
Ecosystems are composed of a variety of abiotic and biotic components that function in an interrelated way.[37] The structure and composition is determined by various environmental factors that are interrelated. Variations of these factors will initiate dynamic modifications to the ecosystem. Some of the more important components are: soil, atmosphere, radiation from the sun, water, and living organisms.
Central to the ecosystem concept is the idea that living organisms interact with every other element in their local environme

Telugu

Nature, in the broadest sense, is the natural, physical, or material world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large part of science. Although humans are part of nature, human activity is often understood as a separate category from other natural phenomena.
The word nature is derived from the Latin word natura, or "essential qualities, innate disposition", and in ancient times, literally meant "birth".[1] Natura is a Latin translation of the Greek word physis (φύσις), which originally related to the intrinsic characteristics that plants, animals, and other features of the world develop of their own accord.[2][3] The concept of nature as a whole, the physical universe, is one of several expansions of the original notion; it began with certain core applications of the word φύσις by pre-Socratic philosophers, and has steadily gained currency ever since. This usage continued during the advent of modern scientific method in the last several centuries.[4][5]
Within the various uses of the word today, "nature" often refers to geology and wildlife. Nature can refer to the general realm of living plants and animals, and in some cases to the processes associated with inanimate objects – the way that particular types of things exist and change of their own accord, such as the weather and geology of the Earth. It is often taken to mean the "natural environment" or wilderness–wild animals, rocks, forest, and in general those things that have not been substantially altered by human intervention, or which persist despite human intervention. For example, manufactured objects and human interaction generally are not considered part of nature, unless qualified as, for example, "human nature" or "the whole of nature". This more traditional concept of natural things which can still be found today implies a distinction between the natural and the artificial, with the artificial being understood as that which has been brought into being by a human consciousness or a human mind. Depending on the particular context, the term "natural" might also be distinguished from the unnatural or the supernatural.
Contents
1 Earth
1.1 Geology
1.1.1 Geological evolution
1.2 Historical perspective
2 Atmosphere, climate, and weather
3 Water on Earth
3.1 Oceans
3.2 Lakes
3.2.1 Ponds
3.3 Rivers
3.4 Streams
4 Ecosystems
4.1 Wilderness
5 Life
5.1 Evolution
5.2 Microbes
5.3 Plants and Animals
6 Human interrelationship
6.1 Aesthetics and beauty
6.2 Value of Nature
7 Matter and energy
8 Beyond Earth
9 See also
10 Notes and references
11 External links
Earth
Main articles: Earth and Earth science
View of the Earth, taken in 1972 by the Apollo 17 astronaut crew. This image is the only photograph of its kind to date, showing a fully sunlit hemisphere of the Earth.
Earth (or, "the earth") is the only planet known to support life, and its natural features are the subject of many fields of scientific research. Within the solar system, it is third closest to the sun; it is the largest terrestrial planet and the fifth largest overall. Its most prominent climatic features are its two large polar regions, two relatively narrow temperate zones, and a wide equatorial tropical to subtropical region.[6] Precipitation varies widely with location, from several metres of water per year to less than a millimetre. 71 percent of the Earth's surface is covered by salt-water oceans. The remainder consists of continents and islands, with most of the inhabited land in the Northern Hemisphere.
Earth has evolved through geological and biological processes that have left traces of the original conditions. The outer surface is divided into several gradually migrating tectonic plates. The interior remains active, with a thick layer of plastic mantle and an iron-filled core that generates a magnetic field. This iron core is composed of a solid inner phase, and a fluid outer phase. It is the rotation of the outer, fluid iron core that generates an electrical current through dynamo action, which in turn generates a strong magnetic field.
The atmospheric conditions have been significantly altered from the original conditions by the presence of life-forms,[7] which create an ecological balance that stabilizes the surface conditions. Despite the wide regional variations in climate by latitude and other geographic factors, the long-term average global climate is quite stable during interglacial periods,[8] and variations of a degree or two of average global temperature have historically had major effects on the ecological balance, and on the actual geography of the Earth.[9][10]
Geology
Main article: Geology
Three types of geological plate tectonic boundaries.
Geology is the science and study of the solid and liquid matter that constitutes the Earth. The field of geology encompasses the study of the composition, structure, physical properties, dynamics, and history of Earth materials, and the processes by which they are formed, moved, and changed. The field is a major academic discipline, and is also important for mineral and hydrocarbon extraction, knowledge about and mitigation of natural hazards, some Geotechnical engineering fields, and understanding past climates and environments.
Geological evolution
The geology of an area evolves through time as rock units are deposited and inserted and deformational processes change their shapes and locations.
Rock units are first emplaced either by deposition onto the surface or intrude into the overlying rock. Deposition can occur when sediments settle onto the surface of the Earth and later lithify into sedimentary rock, or when as volcanic material such as volcanic ash or lava flows, blanket the surface. Igneous intrusions such as batholiths, laccoliths, dikes, and sills, push upwards into the overlying rock, and crystallize as they intrude.
After the initial sequence of rocks has been deposited, the rock units can be deformed and/or metamorphosed. Deformation typically occurs as a result of horizontal shortening, horizontal extension, or side-to-side (strike-slip) motion. These structural regimes broadly relate to convergent boundaries, divergent boundaries, and transform boundaries, respectively, between tectonic plates.
Historical perspective
Main articles: History of the Earth and Evolution
Plankton inhabit oceans, seas and lakes, and have existed in various forms for at least 2 billion years.[11]
An animation showing the movement of the continents from the separation of Pangaea until the present day.
Earth is estimated to have formed 4.54 billion years ago from the solar nebula, along with the Sun and other planets.[12] The moon formed roughly 20 million years later. Initially molten, the outer layer of the Earth cooled, resulting in the solid crust. Outgassing and volcanic activity produced the primordial atmosphere. Condensing water vapor, most or all of which came from ice delivered by comets, produced the oceans and other water sources.[13] The highly energetic chemistry is believed to have produced a self-replicating molecule around 4 billion years ago.[14]
Continents formed, then broke up and reformed as the surface of Earth reshaped over hundreds of millions of years, occasionally combining to make a supercontinent. Roughly 750 million years ago, the earliest known supercontinent Rodinia, began to break apart. The continents later recombined to form Pannotia which broke apart about 540 million years ago, then finally Pangaea, which broke apart about 180 million years ago.[15]
During the Neoproterozoic era covered much of the Earth in glaciers and ice sheets. This hypothesis has been termed the "Snowball Earth", and it is of particular interest as it precedes the Cambrian explosion in which multicellular life forms began to proliferate about 530–540 million years ago.[16]
Since the Cambrian explosion there have been five distinctly identifiable mass extinctions.[17] The last mass extinction occurred some 66 million years ago, when a meteorite collision probably triggered the extinction of the non-avian dinosaurs and other large reptiles, but spared small animals such as mammals. Over the past 66 million years, mammalian life diversified.[18]
Several million years ago, a species of small African ape gained the ability to stand upright.[11] The subsequent advent of human life, and the development of agriculture and further civilization allowed humans to affect the Earth more rapidly than any previous life form, affecting both the nature and quantity of other organisms as well as global climate. By comparison, the Great Oxygenation Event, produced by the proliferation of algae during the Siderian period, required about 300 million years to culminate.
The present era is classified as part of a mass extinction event, the Holocene extinction event, the fastest ever to have occurred.[19][20] Some, such as E. O. Wilson of Harvard University, predict that human destruction of the biosphere could cause the extinction of one-half of all species in the next 100 years.[21] The extent of the current extinction event is still being researched, debated and calculated by biologists.[22]
Atmosphere, climate, and weather
Lightning
Blue light is scattered more than other wavelengths by the gases in the atmosphere, giving the Earth a blue halo when seen from space
A tornado in central Oklahoma
Main articles: Atmosphere of Earth, Climate and Weather
The Earth's atmosphere is a key factor in sustaining the ecosystem. The thin layer of gases that envelops the Earth is held in place by gravity. Air is mostly nitrogen, oxygen, water vapor, with much smaller amounts of carbon dioxide, argon, etc. The atmospheric pressure declines steadily with altitude. The ozone layer plays an important role in depleting the amount of ultraviolet (UV) radiation that reaches the surface. As DNA is readily damaged by UV light, this serves to protect life at the surface. The atmosphere also retains heat during the night, thereby reducing the daily temperature extremes.
Terrestrial weather occurs almost exclusively in the lower part of the atmosphere, and serves as a convective system for redistributing heat. Ocean currents are another important factor in determining climate, particularly the major underwater thermohaline circulation which distributes heat energy from the equatorial oceans to the polar regions. These currents help to moderate the differences in temperature between winter and summer in the temperate zones. Also, without the redistributions of heat energy by the ocean currents and atmosphere, the tropics would be much hotter, and the polar regions much colder.
Weather can have both beneficial and harmful effects. Extremes in weather, such as tornadoes or hurricanes and cyclones, can expend large amounts of energy along their paths, and produce devastation. Surface vegetation has evolved a dependence on the seasonal variation of the weather, and sudden changes lasting only a few years can have a dramatic effect, both on the vegetation and on the animals which depend on its growth for their food.
Climate is a measure of the long-term trends in the weather. Various factors are known to influence the climate, including ocean currents, surface albedo, greenhouse gases, variations in the solar luminosity, and changes to the Earth's orbit. Based on historical records, the Earth is known to have undergone drastic climate changes in the past, including ice ages.
The climate of a region depends on a number of factors, especially latitude. A latitudinal band of the surface with similar climatic attributes forms a climate region. There are a number of such regions, ranging from the tropical climate at the equator to the polar climate in the northern and southern extremes. Weather is also influenced by the seasons, which result from the Earth's axis being tilted relative to its orbital plane. Thus, at any given time during the summer or winter, one part of the Earth is more directly exposed to the rays of the sun. This exposure alternates as the Earth revolves in its orbit. At any given time, regardless of season, the northern and southern hemispheres experience opposite seasons.
Weather is a chaotic system that is readily modified by small changes to the environment, so accurate weather forecasting is limited to only a few days.[citation needed] Overall, two things are happening worldwide: (1) temperature is increasing on the average; and (2) regional climates have been undergoing noticeable changes.[23]
Water on Earth
The Iguazu Falls on the border between Brazil and Argentina
Main article: Water
Water is a chemical substance that is composed of hydrogen and oxygen and is vital for all known forms of life.[24] In typical usage, water refers only to its liquid form or state, but the substance also has a solid state, ice, and a gaseous state, water vapor or steam. Water covers 71% of the Earth's surface.[25] On Earth, it is found mostly in oceans and other large water bodies, with 1.6% of water below ground in aquifers and 0.001% in the air as vapor, clouds, and precipitation.[26][27] Oceans hold 97% of surface water, glaciers and polar ice caps 2.4%, and other land surface water such as rivers, lakes and ponds 0.6%. Additionally, a minute amount of the Earth's water is contained within biological bodies and manufactured products.
Oceans
A view of the Atlantic Ocean from Leblon, Rio de Janeiro.
View of the Earth where all five oceans visible
Earth's oceans
Arctic
Pacific
Atlantic
Indian
Southern
World Ocean
v
t
e
Main article: Ocean
An ocean is a major body of saline water, and a principal component of the hydrosphere. Approximately 71% of the Earth's surface (an area of some 361 million square kilometers) is covered by ocean, a continuous body of water that is customarily divided into several principal oceans and smaller seas. More than half of this area is over 3,000 meters (9,800 feet) deep. Average oceanic salinity is around 35 parts per thousand (ppt) (3.5%), and nearly all seawater has a salinity in the range of 30 to 38 ppt. Though generally recognized as several 'separate' oceans, these waters comprise one global, interconnected body of salt water often referred to as the World Ocean or global ocean.[28][29] This concept of a global ocean as a continuous body of water with relatively free interchange among its parts is of fundamental importance to oceanography.[30]
The major oceanic divisions are defined in part by the continents, various archipelagos, and other criteria: these divisions are (in descending order of size) the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean, the Southern Ocean and the Arctic Ocean. Smaller regions of the oceans are called seas, gulfs, bays and other names. There are also salt lakes, which are smaller bodies of landlocked saltwater that are not interconnected with the World Ocean. Two notable examples of salt lakes are the Aral Sea and the Great Salt Lake.
Lakes
Lake Mapourika, New Zealand
Main article: Lake
A lake (from Latin lacus) is a terrain feature (or physical feature), a body of liquid on the surface of a world that is localized to the bottom of basin (another type of landform or terrain feature; that is, it is not global) and moves slowly if it moves at all. On Earth, a body of water is considered a lake when it is inland, not part of the ocean, is larger and deeper than a pond, and is fed by a river.[31][32] The only world other than Earth known to harbor lakes is Titan, Saturn's largest moon, which has lakes of ethane, most likely mixed with methane. It is not known if Titan's lakes are fed by rivers, though Titan's surface is carved by numerous river beds. Natural lakes on Earth are generally found in mountainous areas, rift zones, and areas with ongoing or recent glaciation. Other lakes are found in endorheic basins or along the courses of mature rivers. In some parts of the world, there are many lakes because of chaotic drainage patterns left over from the last Ice Age. All lakes are temporary over geologic time scales, as they will slowly fill in with sediments or spill out of the basin containing them.
Ponds
The Westborough Reservoir (Mill Pond) in Westborough, Massachusetts.
Main article: Pond
A pond is a body of standing water, either natural or man-made, that is usually smaller than a lake. A wide variety of man-made bodies of water are classified as ponds, including water gardens designed for aesthetic ornamentation, fish ponds designed for commercial fish breeding, and solar ponds designed to store thermal energy. Ponds and lakes are distinguished from streams via current speed. While currents in streams are easily observed, ponds and lakes possess thermally driven microcurrents and moderate wind driven currents. These features distinguish a pond from many other aquatic terrain features, such as stream pools and tide pools.
Rivers
The Nile river in Cairo, Egypt's capital city
Main article: River
A river is a natural watercourse,[33] usually freshwater, flowing toward an ocean, a lake, a sea or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water. Small rivers may also be called by several other names, including stream, creek, brook, rivulet, and rill; there is no general rule that defines what can be called a river. Many names for small rivers are specific to geographic location; one example is Burn in Scotland and North-east England. Sometimes a river is said to be larger than a creek,[34] but this is not always the case, due to vagueness in the language.[35] A river is part of the hydrological cycle. Water within a river is generally collected from precipitation through surface runoff, groundwater recharge, springs, and the release of stored water in natural ice and snowpacks (i.e., from glaciers).
Streams
A rocky stream in Hawaii
Main article: Stream
A stream is a flowing body of water with a current, confined within a bed and stream banks. In the United States a stream is classified as a watercourse less than 60 feet (18 metres) wide. Streams are important as conduits in the water cycle, instruments in groundwater recharge, and they serve as corridors for fish and wildlife migration. The biological habitat in the immediate vicinity of a stream is called a riparian zone. Given the status of the ongoing Holocene extinction, streams play an important corridor role in connecting fragmented habitats and thus in conserving biodiversity. The study of streams and waterways in general involves many branches of inter-disciplinary natural science and engineering, including hydrology, fluvial geomorphology, aquatic ecology, fish biology, riparian ecology and others.
Ecosystems
Loch Lomond in Scotland forms a relatively isolated ecosystem. The fish community of this lake has remained unchanged over a very long period of time.[36]
Lush green Aravalli Mountain Range in the Desert country-Rajasthan, India. A wonder how such greenery can exist in hot Rajasthan, a place well known for its Thar Desert
An aerial view of a human ecosystem. Pictured is the city of Chicago
Main articles: Ecology and Ecosystem
Ecosystems are composed of a variety of abiotic and biotic components that function in an interrelated way.[37] The structure and composition is determined by various environmental factors that are interrelated. Variations of these factors will initiate dynamic modifications to the ecosystem. Some of the more important components are: soil, atmosphere, radiation from the sun, water, and living organisms.
Central to the ecosystem concept is the idea that living organisms interact with every other element in their local environme